Corporate Linkages, Local Employment and Uncertainty: A
Framework for Analysis

ABSTRACT

(http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/papers/tesg77.html)

The paper presents the broad outline of a framework and
some initial empirical findings related to communication processes and
patterns of uncertainty between large industrial job-providing
organizations and their local communities. The optimal allocation of
resources, particularly labor resources, within and between regions is
hampered by a general lack of information about the plans and intentions
of such large corporations. In cases where firms do provide local
employment forecasts and subjective expectations about likely future
corporate developments, there are nevertheless serious questions relating
to the accuracy of such forecasts, the withholding of underlying
assumptions and the visibility of inherent biases. A model which expresses
the formation of expectations and the processes of learning by local
"stakeholders"affected by large organizations still awaits
final specification of relevant parameters. Initial pilot investigations
were carried out in the context of the communication relationships
between the Boeing Company and the Seattle area community.